Page 12 of Playing for Keeps
Justin punched his fist down into the mattress. “If I ever want a shot with her again?—”
“I can’t use your pretty face to lure women into donating to charity anymore. Got it. I’ll do what I can with this, but what about this girl? She must be local. Oh, Justin, my man. This is why you crawled back to your home town.” Nick barked a laugh. Not really the support Justin needed at the moment.
“If you have any useful advice, I’m all ears.”Justin ended the call and tossed his phone onto the bed. What was he going to do about Caroline? Garret’s stupid post put a ticking time bomb on his plan. He’d thought he had time to prepare how to beg for her forgiveness and win her back. Now, he’d lost the element of surprise.
Who was he kidding? He’d been in town for months and hadn’t figured out what to say. He wasn’t going to get some kind of epiphany before the day was over.
“Thanks again,guys. I hate to have wasted your time,” Piper Lockhart said as she wrung her hands.
Justin finished scribbling the note to follow up about security footage with the business across the street from the thrift store, Second Chances. “Being cautious is never a waste of time. It’s good to have a report on file in case you find something missing later or this happens again.”
“Yeah. It helps that you’re so close to the busy part of downtown. Not much goes on around here that we wouldn’t be able to see on security footage,” Garrett added.
Piper smiled for the first time since Justin and Garrett arrived at the thrift store to check on a triggered alarm. “Thanks. I’m so glad it was nothing.”
Justin copied the report number and tore thesmall sheet out of his pocket notebook. “Here’s the information about the report. You can pick it up at the department tomorrow morning. Here’s my card too.”
“Is there anything else we can do for you?” Garrett asked.
“I appreciate your help. Graham is going to work with me tomorrow morning.”
Garrett gave Piper a nod and shook her hand. “Call us if you need anything.”
“I hope I don’t have to call you,” Piper said, clearly more relaxed than earlier when she’d been unsure if someone had broken into Second Chances.
Justin and Garrett stepped out the front door into the darkness and made their way to the cruiser. The shift was almost over, and Justin’s shoulders were tense from the topic they needed to address.
Garrett slid into the driver’s seat and huffed. “Are you ever going to talk to me?”
Justin pulled out his tablet and started working on the report. “I don’t have anything nice to say yet.”
“Come on,” Garrett groaned. “I said I was sorry. Let me buy you a donut.”
“Not a chance. I’m never eating in front of you again.”
“Come to Dino’s with me and Cindy tonight. There’s a band playing.”
“I appreciate all the invites to hang out with you,but being the third wheel isn’t as fun as you think it is.”
“I get it, but I’m just trying to make it up to you.” Garrett rubbed the back of his neck. “How was I supposed to know you were hiding out in plain sight and brooding over a long-lost love?”
Justin shot a glare at his partner. His friend status was up for debate. Maybe he’d start a sweepstakes for that role instead. “I told you I didn’t need any dates this Christmas.”
“But you dowantone,” Garrett said.
“No, I definitely don’t.”
“I mean you want a date withsomeone.Onesomeone,” Garrett said, trying to draw special meaning out of a few words.
Justin shook his head. “Do you even hear yourself? You make no sense.”
“You want a date with Caroline! You should have just told me.” Garrett gasped. “That’s why you never want to go to The Cakery. You don’t want to face your one true love.”
“My what?”
“The one that got away. Whoa. This all makes sense. Everybody in town knows about the beef between your dad and the Taylors. You and Caroline have this starcrossed lovers thing going on. Congrats, Romeo!”
Caroline had never blamed him for the sins of his father, and he still believed she’d prayed him outof the dark pit he’d grown up in. She couldn’t have known that those prayers would eventually rip them apart.
